Every year, leaders from nearly 200 nations gather for the UN Climate Change Conference, better known as the COP (Conference of the Parties). It’s easy to dismiss these summits as talk shops filled with speeches and political wrangling — but without them, the world would have no shared forum to tackle the defining issue of our time: the climate crisis.

Why COPs Are Essential

The COP process is more than diplomacy. It’s the only global platform where all nations — rich, poor, industrialised, and developing — come together to discuss, negotiate, and commit to collective climate action.

The COP framework ensures:
•    Accountability: Countries must regularly report on progress and update their emissions targets.
•    Equity: It gives developing nations a voice in shaping climate finance and adaptation support.
•    Momentum: It keeps the world’s focus on climate action, year after year, even as politics and priorities shift.

Without the COPs, there would be no Paris Agreement, no global net-zero targets, and no mechanism for tracking emissions or climate finance. Every country would be left to act — or not act — in isolation.

And even when major players like the United States choose not to fully engage — as is the case this year with the absence of U.S. delegates — the COP process remains crucial. The rest of the world continues to negotiate, build consensus, and move forward. Climate change doesn’t pause for politics, and neither can global cooperation.

Why the Royal Meteorological Society Attends

For the Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS), attending COPs is an essential part of its mission to advance understanding of weather, climate, and their impacts on society. As a scientific body, RMetS provides independent, evidence-based insight to help ensure that discussions and decisions are informed by the best available climate science.

RMetS is also a member of RINGO (Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organizations) — one of the nine official constituencies that represent civil society at COP. Through RINGO, the RMetS contributes to ensuring that scientific expertise and independent research remain at the heart of international climate negotiations, helping bridge the gap between research, policy, and real-world action.

Writing blogs like this is also an important part of that work. Communicating clearly about why these global conferences matter — and what progress is being made — empowers individuals, communities, and organisations to connect their own actions to the broader global effort. It’s how science translates into awareness, and awareness into change.

What We’d Lose Without COP

If COPs didn’t exist, climate action would likely be slower, patchier, and driven by short-term national interests. There would be no shared roadmap to limit global temperature rise, no system for climate adaptation aid, and no international pressure on high emitters to do better. The science would be clear, but the coordination would be chaos.

Progress So Far

While the world is still far from meeting the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C, progress has been made. A decade ago, before the Paris Agreement in 2015, the world was on track for a catastrophic 4 to 5°C of warming by 2100. Thanks to the pledges, policies, and investments made since then — many born directly from COP negotiations — the current trajectory is around 2.5–2.7°C by century’s end.

That may still be too high, but it’s a profound shift in the right direction. And behind that progress are real-world actions:
•    Dozens of countries have enshrined net-zero by mid-century in law.
•    Renewables now supply over 30% of global electricity.
•    Climate finance to developing countries has more than doubled in the past decade.

The Bigger Picture

The COPs have not solved climate change — but they have changed the global direction of travel.

They have built the frameworks, mobilised trillions in investment, and given rise to global agreements that anchor hope in coordinated action rather than isolated efforts.

Every degree — even every fraction of a degree — matters. And without the COP process, we would almost certainly be facing a far hotter, more unstable world than the one still within our power to protect.